This invention generally pertains to patient support structures. More specifically, the present invention relates to a head support structure for positioning the head, neck and torso of a patient's body on a couch or table during medical treatment and diagnosis.
The invention is particularly applicable to a support shell or body which is adapted to support a patient's head, neck and torso during a diagnostic imaging process, such as CT scanning, so that the entire spinal column of the patient can be imaged. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has broader applications and may also be adapted for use in other medical treatment and diagnosis environments.
The provision of a simple pillow on a couch to support the head of the patient during diagnostic imaging is not considered adequate because the head of the patient is then not cantilevered out far enough away from the end of the couch to make the entire spine of the patient accessible to diagnostic imaging.
In the medical imaging field, therefore, several types of positioning aid assemblies are known. In one of these, a head support member is rigidly secured to a couch such that the member is not detachable from the couch and so that the member must be used in a given orientation in relation to the couch. In other known types of positioning aid assemblies, the head support is secured to the couch in a tiltable manner. This arrangement is disadvantageous under certain circumstances. In this type of known apparatus, metallic hinges are used to support a plastic head piece. The provision of such hinges is, however, disadvantageous in that the different materials and shapes used for the individual parts of the apparatus cause the imaging radiation to be attenuated in varying degrees depending on the material the radiation passes through.
Another disadvantage of the fixedly installed head supports is that since the head support cannot be removed from the couch or even pivoted out of the way, the couch cannot be used for many diagnostic purposes.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved headrest assembly which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others, while providing better and more advantageous overall results.